ACEC of Delaware EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE MINUTES

Wednesday, December 15, 2004

University and Whist Club

Meeting called to order: 11 A.M.

Attendees:
Ted Williams	President	Landmark Engineering
Scott Rathfon	Treasurer/ Transportation	Century Engineering
Ross Harris	Vice President/ Sussex County	ECI
Tim Anderson	Secretary/ Kent County	Karins and Associates
Ted Januszka	Membership	Pennoni
Steve Johns	New Castle County	Vandemark & Lynch
Mike Karia	Executive Director	MK Consulting
Not Present:
Brian Carbaugh	Programs	WWES Associates
Tom deLorimier	Environmental	URS Corporation
Dave Charles	National Director	Duffield Associates
Paul Jones	Education	Lessard Builders, Inc.
Gregg Moore	Sussex County	Becker Morgan Group

Minutes

The meeting minutes from the November 24, 2004 meeting as previously distributed via email were again distributed at the meeting. The minutes were accepted. The meeting minutes and committee reports are planned to be posted on the ACEC Delaware web site in the near future.

Treasurerâs Report ö Scott Rathfon

A treasurerâs report was provided by Mike Karia. First quarter and second quarter dues bills were sent out to member firms in November accompanied by a letter for clarification. Third quarter bills will be sent out in January 2005. Mike will review invoice records to confirm the status of firms with outstanding invoices. A letter will be sent out to all firms that have past due invoices. A different letter will be sent to all firms that have skipped payments of past due invoices. All past due statements will be compiled into a pdf format file and sent to Ted Williams following the confirmation of the firmsâ dues payment status.

Legislative Committee ö Ted Williams

No written report. It was previously reported that there are new legislators due to the recent election and there also will be new state government staff. These changes will be followed.

Membership - Ted Januszka

No written report. The committee is still pursuing recruitment of four firms- MRA, Remington Vernick, River Basin Engineering, and Whitman Requardt. Representatives of these firms may be invited to attend the next program. It was suggested that national firm representatives, who are active in ACEC national, should be contacted to try to encourage better participation of their Delaware office branches in ACEC Delaware.Ê

Program Committee ö Brian Carbaugh

The January program will be a joint program between ACEC Delaware and the Delaware Institute of Planning and Design (DIPD). Brian Carbaugh will contact Denise Husband, president of DIPD, to arrange this program. Potential topics for the program are the increased roles of land planners in land development projects and new urbanism.

A potential March program is a presentation and discussion by DAPE on initiatives that DAPE will be pursuing in accordance with an upcoming DAPE workshop scheduled to be held in February 2005. Paul Jones will look in to this further.

Another possible program (possibly a breakfast program in the springtime) is a forum with Miss Utility, utility company representatives, and Kent County Department of Public Works to discuss difficulties in obtaining utility information during engineering and planning. Ted Williams will contact Miss Utility about this.

The Christmas program, an Executive Committee lunch, took place immediately following the meeting.

Transportation Committee - Scott Rathfon

No written report. A partnering meeting was held on November 18, 2004 and the following issues were discussed:

ÊÊ Public, private, partnering (P3) arrangements for some projects have been pursued by DelDOT but have not yet been successfully implemented. The private sector has instead recommended design-build on these projects.

ÊÊ DelDOT is not willing to change their overhead rates. Many firms are still competing for state highway work.

ÊÊ The subdivision street manual is being revised. DelDOT is 3 months into a 14-month process expected to complete the revisions.

ÊÊ DelDOT requirements for fixed fees are to be negotiated in accordance with the FHWA guidelines.ÊÊÊÊÊÊÊ

Environmental Committee ö Tom deLorimier

No report.Ê

New Castle County Committee - Steve Johns

A written report from the 11/20/04 meeting was distributed. The next scheduled meeting is January 3, 2005 at 2:00 p.m. at the Land Use office.

Kent County CommitteeÊ - Tim Anderson

No written report. Currently, the committee is looking in to Town of Smyrna plan submissions/ review procedures, additional utility certifications required by KC, and KCDâs position on conservation design practices. These issues will be further investigated and discussed at future partnering meetings. The utility certifications issue will most likely be addressed at an ACEC Delaware program as indicated under program committee.

Sussex County Committee - Ross Harris & Gregg Moore

A partnering meeting was held before Thanksgiving. The meeting was attended by DelDOT, SCD, Sussex County engineering, and Sussex County planning representatives. The following issues were discussed:

ÊÊ The proliferation of community wastewater systems and regulations governing these systems.

ÊÊ The proliferation of growth issues such as inspection of SWM basins and lot grading to ensure compliance with approved plans.

ÊÊ Ordinance 38 for sanitary sewer and water distributions systems design and construction is being revised. ACEC Delaware has expressed interest in reviewing the revisions prior to their adoption.

Education/Public Relations CommitteeÊ - Paul Jones

No written report. Information on the Adopt A School Mathcounts program involvement was distributed. It was suggested that a letter be sent to member firms requesting their involvement with instructions on how to become involved.

Executive Directorâs Report ö Mike Karia

A written report was distributed. The report addressed: the treasurerâs report, changes in membership status, links between the ACEC Delaware website and member firm websites that have been done, closure of the inactive Morgan-Stanley account, the engineering excellence awards program, executive director fees payment, and a schedule for 2005 meetings. Potential judges for the awards program were discussed and will be contacted by members of the executive committee. Funding for advertisements in local newspapers for ACEC Delaware activities was discussed; also advertisement of ACEC Delaware in the Business Ledger Book of Lists was discussed.

National Directors Report - Dave Charles

No written report.

Miscellaneous-Ted Williams

ÊThe next ACEC national conference is scheduled to be in March 2005 in Washington, D.C. ACEC Delaware should try to get more attendees at this conference. The next Executive Committee meeting will be held at 4 p.m. on January 26, 2005 at the Christiana Hilton to be followed by a program.